-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: SPC ECO
Album...: Dark Matter
GENRE....: Trip-Hop
STYLE....: Electronic, Dream Pop, Massive Attack, Tricky
LABEL....: Saint Marie Records SCENE.....: 2016-01-24
BITRATE..: 211 kbps avg STORE.....: 2015-00-00
ENCODER..: LAME 3.98.4 -V0 TRACKS....: 10
SIZE.....: 71.98MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPC_ECO
- TRACKLIST
1 Creep In The Shadows 4:30
2 Different Kind 5:07
3 Let It Be Always 3:24
4 Playing Games 4:56
5 I Won't Be Heard 4:36
6 Meteor 4:21
7 Down Low 4:53
8 Breathe 4:23
9 The Whole World Shines 6:50
10 Under My Skin 4:05
Total Playtime: 47:05
Dark Matter is the sixth full-length album by SPC ECO, a project centered
around former Curve guitarist Dean Garcia and his daughter Rose Berlin, with
contributions from numerous guest musicians. While the group started out
making noisy yet poppy electronic-tinged shoegaze in the vein of Garcia's
former band, it abandoned guitars for its 2014 album, The Art of Pop,
embracing more of an icy synth pop sound. Dark Matter finds the group
morphing further into dark, moody trip-hop, with thick, slithering beats and
heavy, echo-covered bass enveloping Berlin's occasionally Auto-Tuned vocals.
Her voice inevitably brings to mind Curve's Toni Halliday, but there's a fair
bit of '90s-era Elizabeth Fraser in her as well, and plenty of this album
(particularly the swirling, intoxicating standout "Let It Be Always")
suggests what might have happened if the former Cocteau Twins chanteuse had
started a side project with members of Massive Attack following the success
of their 1998 classic Mezzanine. Berlin's lyrics live up to the album's
title, with subject matter typically concerning loneliness, regret, paranoia,
and heartbreak. Tense, creeping ballads such as "Meteor" and "Under My Skin"
(which ends with the line "all I fear is dying alone") find Berlin at her
most aching and vulnerable, while the trap-influenced beats of "Down Low"
prove that trip-hop can successfully be updated for the post-Purity Ring era
of downtempo electronic pop music.
*
Dean and Rose make a spectacular hard left turn into a new arena of sound
with their latest, the tempo slows almost to a stop and the atmospheres
become so overpowering they nearly knock you out. Now previously theyÆd
sparkled and shined through artful pop but here in this isolated and remote
locale we find them stretching out and letting their hair down; when they
were picking album titles they surely must have known this would be the one.
æDark MatterÆ borders on trip-hop but it doesnÆt go full on torch song in any
of the tracks youÆll hear. Rose has many things to let us know about and few
of them sound positive. Interpersonal betrayals and backstabbing treachery
appear to be the order of the day with Dean composing what can only be called
menace to accompany her words.
SPC ECO have really hit their marks this time around and indeed, over the
last couple of albums have become more and more assured. They name no names
and offer up little in the way of influence; this has always been how Dean
Garcia has written music and now even here where the sun is choked out by
thick, rolling clouds of magnificent bass you cannot help but sing along. For
how sedate people expected this one to be it has remarkable groove with
devilishly placed beats accentuating RoseÆs dynamic delivery. WhatÆs
more,this record is lengthy with not one note wasted and nothing cluttering
up the field. IÆd like to see the in house production teams the majors have
try to match what IÆm hearing here. Just try not to embarrass yourselves too
much, little ones.
Somewhere between the small hours and dawn with the dew still clinging to
roadside fauna viewed from inside your sleek vehicle with the undertaker
glass barreling down the motorwayà thatÆs the setting and these are the
pieces to get you there. One sits in silence hearing a song like ôMeteorö,
unable to muster the courage to interrupt. I know what theyÆve done with
æDark MatterÆ is probably a one-off but goddamn what an excursion this is.
Right into the heart of darkness with these two as your pilots; just sit back
and try to relax as the intent and tone of what is on here may tempt you into
an uneasy sleep.
Yet somehow youÆre wide awake.
æDark MatterÆ glistens and glows like an immaculate Opal lurking in itÆs own
corner of shadowy contemplation; youÆll have to wait for your eyes to adjust
in order to perceive it but once you do my friends, it will pull you in with
an undeniably seductive ease. Much like words whispered with the promise of
discrete indiscretion; their fulfillment achingly just out of reachà and so
we play this again and again.
Through headphones these are even more disturbingly complex and reveal an
entire terrarium of fiendish delights. More effects and even more dynamics
have somehow been broken out of the SPC ECO arsenal to deliver maximum damage
to unwary speakers so watch out. I did this and could feel as well as hear my
monitors bulging at the seams trying to keep up as the gain increased. This
is very much an in-the-ear sort of release, something to put the Cochlea
through itÆs paces with. It is definitely worth your while to track this down
and lucky lucky us the band themselves have put it up for sale through their
Bandcamp. These two are waging a guerrilla-style campaign against musical
lethargy and wear their DIY approach like a badge of honor; donÆt scoff at
it, theyÆve managed to get signed yet again to a label and have a new album
in the can for 2016.
IÆm hopeful theyÆll get the recognition they deserve. They have certainly
earned it.
*
The first time that I listened to "DARK MATTER" we were driving in the car,
the three of us, on our way to our first hockey game. We were technically
on our way to Springfield, MA but we drove past it to go up to the Holyoke
Mall first. There aren't a lot of places you can go within Connecticut
that take more than an hour but from Meriden, CT to Holyoke, MA is a pretty
decent drive and we listened to this SPC ECO album the whole way there. I
only make mention of this because I own so many great albums which have
stayed with me over the years and I've always found myself listening to them
and under the impression of my hearing it for the umpteenth time and yet most
of them I cannot recall the first time I heard them but assume it was inside
somewhere. Knowing we experienced "DARK MATTER" for the first time on our
way to our first hockey game makes it as special a memory as this album is
itself.
The sound of SPC ECO is one that can be described with many different tags on
Bandcamp but ultimately has the vocals and beats at the forefront. You can
call it dark beats, futuristic electronica, dreambeats and probably a few
other genres on Bandcamp I don't want to look up. The thing is, the music
has a post apocalyptic sound to it on some levels and as such reminds me of
something you'd hear on the soundtrack to "Tank Girl" and yet at the same
time could be on the soundtrack to "The Crow". If you require a point of
comparison with another existing artist you'd probably go for Garbage or The
Postal Service but that isn't even quite close to how wonderful this sounds.
One of the biggest factors on this album is the mood it sets and that is done
by the tempo. I like to think of it as being rather sullen and brooding,
taking us somewhere but yet it is mellow and chill while still maintaining a
certain sense of supsense. Though it seems like it should not be possible
the songs on "DARK MATTER" manage to keep a steady tempo, never slowing down
too much and never gaining too much speed, and yet it still seems urgent.
It has that same appeal as something I would say was from the "Alias"
soundtrack, or if you could just imagine the speed on this cranked up ten
times faster, but yet it can somehow do all that without making the beats
faster.
The beats are also what control the music, which in a way reminds me of hip
hop or trip hop but only taken to another level. It's not something I can
quite explain because I've not heard anything like it before, but even though
there are other sounds within these songs (including vocals) the beats still
remain at the front. I can only really compare it with how you see a band
perform live: the singer/guitarist in the front and center, a bassist to his
or her left, another guitarist to the right and then the drummer behind all
of them, somewhat hidden behind the drumkit. As I listen to these songs,
I imagine the drummer being front and center, somehow in front of the drumkit
even, with everyone else in the background (Though the vocals could be side
by side at times)
Though the tempo can change at times into these bursts of lightning which
might find you on edge if you are otherwise feeling relaxed, the fact of the
matter is that one of the best words to describe the vibe of this album is
chill. However, even though it has that laid back essence to it there is
still this importance, this rising within it which makes me feel like it is
quite more punk rock than anything else calling itself punk rock these days.
This might not be the brash, screaming in your face type of music you'd
expect to resemble such ideas but it does have that "We're here and we are
not to be fucked with" attitude that I just also love so much because it
might not be obvious but it is still there.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
--===--
*********************
* NuHS we miss you! *
*********************